Olympics paved McMann's road to title shot

6:29 PM,
Feb. 12, 2014

Sara McMann, a 1998 graduate of McDowell High

Written by

Ben Fowlkes
| USA TODAY Sports

A decade removed from her experience as an Olympian, Ultimate Fighting Championship women's bantamweight contender Sara McMann has a perspective on the Games that most people can't comprehend from the safety of their living rooms.

That's not to say her experience was a bad one - she won a silver medal in freestyle wrestling in the Summer Olympics in Athens in 2004. While she enjoyed it, McMann, a 1998 graduate of McDowell High School, chuckled, "I didn't enjoy it the way you enjoy a roller-coaster ride."

"Let's just say that if you enjoy working really hard at something, it's a great thing," she ...